chickens
One loose foot of wire cost me three years of hens and a whole pen
One loose foot of wire cost me three years of hens and a whole pen. That's the kind of heartbreak that makes you want to triple-check every hinge, latch, and corner of your coop until your fingers go raw. This person lost 28 birds in a single night, over half their flock, to a bobcat that squeezed through a tiny gap in a 400-square-foot run. They had Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Jersey Giants, Leghorns, Olive Eggers, Black Australorps, and it still didn't matter. The predator pushed through fastened mesh and hog panel like it was nothing. It's a brutal reminder that our feathered friends are fragile, and our defenses need to be ruthless.